1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for managing an installation position of a network device connected to a computer network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer networks such as the Internet continue to spread widely around the world. To the computer network are connected many devices such as, for example, a copier, a printer, a facsimile device, a scanner, and a multifunction device having these functionalities combined. In particular, in network devices connected to a network i.e. in network devices, because physical media such as paper are used for exchanging information, information on a position to which the device is installed is very important for the user. Therefore, a device administrator manages the installation position of each device by setting the positional information (for example, degrees of latitude and longitude, the address of the installation place, or building number/room number etc.) to storage means built into each device when each device is installed and collecting the positional information from each device via the network.
The network device may be moved to suit user demands. In such a case, the device administrator should update the positional information set to the device with the new positional information.
The positional information, however, generally is not information required for operation of the network device. In other words, the network device can be operated at a new location even when set with positional information of a previous location. Because of this, there may be cases in which the positional information is not changed even though the device has been moved, which causes a problem in that a situation can easily occur in which the stored installation position and the positional information after movement do not match. As a result, even when means for storing positional information is provided in a network device, it was not possible to effectively manage the installation position of the network device using the storage means. Even when the device administrator updates the installation position information every time he moves the device, a user of the device may move the device without notifying the device administrator. Such situations have become increasingly common as the number of devices connected to the network have increased, making it more and more difficult to manage the installation positions of the network devices.
Therefore, it is desirable to resolve the situation in that, when the network device is moved and installed at a different place, the positional information indicating the installation position before the movement is still set in the storage means built into the device.